Who’s got Eurosong Fever? Who can’t wait until the competition’s on in May? From Father Ted and Monty Python to Stephen Colbert and Edward af Sillén, the Eurovision Song Contest provides an easy punchline, but there’s more to the sequins than the non sequiturs. Samantha Ross asks why the Eurovision Song Contest is such a rich source of humour and a target for comedians the world over.

As the self-styled favourite TV show of Europe, the Eurovision Song Contest manages to miss prime time Saturday night and runs well past midnight for the majority of viewers. Lisa-Jayne Lewis looks at one simple solution to this problem… change the starting time.

The ESC Insight crew are off to Île de Bezençon for the summer with their favourite Eurovision related songs and stories. Next up at the customs desk is Sharleen Wright who has tales of minor crimes and misdemeanours involving Tim Tams, watching the contest as a child in Australia and argues over whether or not Johnny Logan is cool.

As the season gets under way, Ewan Spence rounds up the current state of play with Junior Eurovision 2017 and the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in the latest ESC Insight news podcast, along with developments in Asia and music from Benny Andersson’s piano.

This week, our castaway on Ile de Bezencon is John Paul Lucas. He tells us how Ira Losco blew his mind in 2002, regales us with tales of near-death experiences at Eurovision parties and has issues with the concept of the ‘wrong sort’ of Eurovision fan.